Attack Tactics

Attack / Raiding
In Clash of Clans, you can fight with Goblins in single player campaign, or choose to attack other player’s village. Because the game promotes multiplayer gameplay, Attacking is the main key feature in the game that you can interact with other players to gain more trophy and Resources. If you are an active player with lots of time and good Attack tactics, you will quickly gain lots of Trophy, Gold, Elixir and Dark Elixir to advance your base. Before you learn any tactics, you need thoroughly understand the game mechanic.

Matchmaking System
When you choose to “Attack” then click “Find a Match” button, the game randomly tries to find the best match available for you. The system only takes into account your amount of trophies; Level, experience and Town Hall level don’t matter in matchmaking system. After a match has been found, you have 30 seconds to view the enemy’s village and decide whether you want to attack. If you’d rather attack someone else, you can click “Next” button and the system will find you a new match. There is a Gold cost based on Town Hall level for each attempt to find the match.

Trophy is the only factor in matchmaking system!

There were a lot of debates to improve matchmaking system by using other factors. The reason to use number of trophy is that it allows more players to play the game competitively regardless of how long they have been playing.

Victory & Trophy
You have to get at least one star to be considered as achieving victory. The numbers of star you win also determine the number of trophy you get. The available trophy is shown at the top left corner below available loot resources when you are attacking other player’s village.
0 star Attacker lose all available trophy
1 star Attacker gain 1/3 of available trophy by reach 50% damage or destroy Town Hall
2 stars Attacker gain 2/3 of available trophy by reach 50% damage and destroy Town Hall
3 stars Attacker gain all of available trophy       by reach 100% damage (destroy whole base)

Shield
Shield is the system that prevent player from getting attacked all the time, and will be automatically activated under certain conditions. Defending player will get a shield if the base reaches 40% or more damage, or gets Town Hall destroyed.
%                         Damage Result  Shield
0-39%  Defending players win        No shield activated
40-49%  Defending players win  12 hours shield activated
50-89%  Attacking players win  12 hours shield activated
90% or more   Attacking players win         16 hours shield activated

• Before the shield runs out, if you choose to attack other players, the shield will be disabled and your village will become exposed to other players to attack you. 
• Player can also spend Gems to buy Shield for certain duration. Unless you are a top player in the world or desperate for trophy, it is not recommended to buy a Shield.

Loot Limit
Loot limit is applied to prevent player from losing all resources when getting attacked. Without loot limit, player will be unable to accumulate enough resource for any upgrade, and result to unfavorable gameplay.
20% of Gold & Elixir can be stolen from Gold & Elixir Storage, capped at 198K
50% of Gold & Elixir can be stolen from Gold Mine and Elixir Collector, no cap
100% of Gold & Elixir can be stolen from Town Hall (though only 1,000 Gold and 1,000 Elixir stored in Town Hall)
5% of Dark Elixir can be stolen from Dark Elixir Storage, capped at 2,000 DE
75% of Dark Elixir can be stolen from Dark Elixir Drill, no cap

Loot Penalty & Loot Bonus
High level Town Hall gives player access to stronger attacking troops and defense structures. Therefore, loot penalty is applied to high level Town Hall player as a handicap or discouragement when attacking lower level TH. On the other hand, loot bonus is applied as incentive or encouragement to low level Town Hall player when attack higher level TH. In short, you get loot penalty or loot bonus at certain percentage based on difference of Town Hall level.

5% of available resources for attacking TH 4 or more levels below you (95% loot penalty)
25% of available resources for attacking TH 3 levels below you (75% loot penalty)
50% of available resources for attacking TH 2 levels below you (50% loot penalty)
90% of available resources for attacking TH 1 level below you (10% loot penalty)

100% of available resources for attacking same TH level of you (no penalty or bonus)

110% of available resources for attacking TH 1 level above you (10% loot bonus)
150% of available resources for attacking TH 2 levels above you (50% loot bonus)
200% of available resources for attacking TH 3 or more levels above you (100% loot bonus)

Replay & Revenge System
When you click at “Envelope” icon at the left side of the screen, the “Battle Log” screen will appear. These battle logs are recorded whenever other players attack you village. Each one shows attacker’s name, clan, troops deployed and your lost trophy, resources. You can tap at the box to visit and view their village; this will come in handy when you prepare specific troop combination and plan to revenge them. Only latest 4 replays are available.

On the right side, when you click green “Replay” button, the game will lead you to the recorded attacking video. It’s always fun to watch when attacker fails an attempt against your village. The important things to learn here are the attacking tactics and your village flaws. You can learn from good attacking tactics such as timing and sequence to deploy each unit, the weakest point of your village, bad placement of buildings and walls, etc.

Revenge system is the mechanic that allows players to get back their lost trophy and resources. Clicking at red “Revenge” button will take you to attack back that player, this is the only way in the game that allows you to attack specific player instead of randomly selected player. Some players like to revenge every player just for fun. The recommendation is to check the strength and amount of resource of their, focus to revenge only the weak village with high resource.

• You can’t revenge if that player is online or has a shield.
• You can’t revenge back the revenge attack.
• When you finish revenge, the red “Revenge” button disappears.
• There are limited number of available Battle Log, the oldest one will disappear when new attack happens.